Contacting Us

You can contact us by sending email to an address of the form
support@company.co.uk
where "company" is "abelsim". (Apologies for
not writing the address more clearly, but this way may avoid us getting
even more spam!)

Support

If you believe you have found a bug in the latest version of Abel, Mabel or Mobel,
please do tell us, so that we can correct it and make a
new version available to you and others. The latest versions of Abel and Mabel
are available as an update for free
download by buyers of the original software.
Updates for Mobel are also free, via the App Store.

If you believe you have found a bug, or cannot find out how to do
something even after studying the latest documentation - or simply want to
share your experiences - please send an email to the address given above.

If you are having problems installing Abel/Mabel/Mobel, or getting it to run
properly after you've installed it, please look through the lists of known
problems below and also look at the troubleshooting section of
the Abel/Mabel documentation before contacting us for help.

If you've got a problem and you're not using the latest version of Abel/Mabel/Mobel,
download and install the
latest version: the problem may already be fixed!

Known Problems for Abel on Windows PCs

Microsoft have introduced a compatibility problem, causing Abel versions after 3.7.0a
to be unusable on Windows 95/98/ME/2000. The download page
allows users of these older Windows PCs to download version 3.7.0a,
as well as allowing users of more modern Windows PCs to download the latest version.

Version 3.9.2
If you use Handbell Manager with Abel 3.9.2, you will need to update to the latest version of HM.
See the Handbell Manager section of the Downloads page for details.

If you get messages about missing sound files such as 1.wav when you have upgraded to Abel 3.9.2,
your original Abel CD is at least 15 years old!
To fix the problem, see the "Number prompts for Abel" section of
the Downloads page.

Two users have reported that Abel 3.9.2 upgrade does not run on their Windows XP laptops.
It runs fine on other Windows XP laptops. This is under investigation.

Version 3.9
If you increased the number of bells by at least two, then rang a bell before
clicking Start, you got an error message, and sometimes strange behaviour afterwards.
Fixed in version 3.9.0a.

In the Learning Exercises method collection, there was an error in the 3-4 Long Places
exercise. Fixed in version 3.9.0a.

If you opened a saved striking file, then tried to save in Lowndes format, the save failed.
Fixed in version 3.9.1.

Version 3.8 and 3.9
On some older PCs, typically running Windows XP, there may be white flashes on screen
when using the Moving Ringers display. This is probably due to a slow graphics card
and/or a slow processor. It may be improved
if you run Abel immediately after turning on the PC (so that little else is running);
if you avoid having the mouse cursor pointing to the toolbar (which makes Windows use lots of
processor power looking for clicks); and if you set Abel's Options>Screen to "Long bell
pictures shown in a line", though this is regretable since it is less realistic than
having the pictures in a crescent.

Version 3.7
There are no reported problems in Abel 3.7.

Versions 3.0 to 3.6
Very few problems were ever reported in these versions. If you do encounter
a problem, please update to the latest Abel version that will run on your PC.

Windows Vista/7/8/8.1/10 with old versions of Abel
If you are using Windows Vista/7/8/8.1/10 with Abel 3.5.3b or earlier versions,
you may find that Abel's help system
doesn't work, or that you can't save changes to method collections, option files, etc.
These issues were fixed in version 3.6.

Installing old CDs
If you have a very old Abel CD, you may find that it will
not install on a modern PC
(because the PC will not read the CD, or because of an installer problem).
Email AbelSim at the address given above
to request a free download of the current version of Abel.

Known Problems for Mabel on Apple Mac

Version 1.0.2

As in version 1.0, if you press the space bar at the start of a change, strange things may happen to
the blue line display. It only seems to happen on some Macs, and with some versions
of OS X. If this happens on your Mac, do
not use the space bar as the key for ringing a bell or making a call.

Version 1.0

If you press the space bar at the start of a change, strange things may happen to
the blue line display. It only seems to happen on some Macs, and with some versions
of OS X. If this happens on your Mac, do
not use the space bar as the key for ringing a bell or making a call.

For users with Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) only, there is a problem with opening method
collections. When you click File>Open on the menu bar, the dialog that appears may not
show the available method collections. It seems that Apple have introduced an
incompatibility, or even a bug, in Lion. This is fixed in Mabel version 1.0.2
(see the download page).

There is a problem if you try to add a Treble Place method from the microSIRIL
library. This is fixed in version 1.0.2. Users of Mabel 1.0 with
MAC OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) or later can upgrade to version 1.0.2
(see the download page).

For users with Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) only, there is a problem with adding and
editing call change compositions.

Known Problems for Mobel on iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad

Version 1.2
There is a small compatibility issue on iOS 8.
When you first tap the i button to change Mobel's settings,
the current settings for Stage/Composition/Method/PealTime are not
shown. If you rotate the device, they will appear! This is fixed in version 1.3.

Version 2.0
Version 2.0 could crash if you added a composition with a method but no lead end specifications,
or if you closed the app when on the Add/Edit Composition page. This is fixed in version 2.1.

All versions
Due to device limitations, the rhythm of the ringing may be very slightly unsteady
at some ringing speeds.
If you notice that the rhythm is unsteady, change the ringing speed (peal time)
up or down by 2 or 4 minutes, and the problem will disappear.